BREAK ME (Teased and Broken Book 3) (14 page)

“Let me guess!” I cut him off. “That was before you fell in love with me right? Yeah, I’ve heard it all before you dumb fucking prick. Quit boring me like so many books I try to read and get to the chorus …
now!”

“But it’s true,” he muttered, looking embarrassed. “You started as a game. It has ended with me prepared to fucking die Elena.
Die
to protect your gorgeous ass.”

I screamed in his face.

It was loud, fully feral and unfortunate.

His went wide, full of bright flame.
 

 
“Answer.Me.The.Fuck.NOW!” I exploded. “What did the warlock grant instead?”

I dived down to his right ball, sucked it into my mouth and gave it a whipping with my tongue.
 

“Holy fucking hell!” Thorn roared. “Calm your tits love. Honestly! I’ll tell you. Just stop doing
that!”

I spat his ball out in disgust.
“Tell me NOW!”
His chest rose and fell. Tears glittered in his eyes.
 
“Like I said, he used my arrogance against me. I didn’t think of the possibility of you ever
not
wanting me.”

My heart was pumping so urgently I was sure he could hear it.
 

“And?” I barely whispered.
 

“He cursed the necklace. If you don’t want me, I will die.
That
is the fucking curse woman.
That
is what he gifted.”

Fifteen

“Nooooooooooooo!” I howled.

I was beside myself.
 

“How can anything be real between us? How can I fucking trust you, if you know you could fucking
die
if I don’t want you?”

Thorn struggled against the binds.
 

“You ought to run love,” he licked his lips, “because I’m coming to brand that ass.”

“Are you fucking serious!?” I screamed in his face. “You want to
die
is that it? Because I don’t want you to die! I really fucking don’t. But I promise you this Thornton Darko if you mutilate my ass, you will die. I will not want you after that.”

“Yes you will,” he panted confidently. He writhed and arched his back crazily.
 

An ugly ripping sound punctuated the air as the ties from the bathrobes fell away from his ankles in shreds.
 

Shit.

I had to get out of here. I didn’t doubt the crazy asshole would brand my ass with his initials. The hungry and wild look in his flaming green eyes terrified me.
 

The man was completely insane.
 

I threw on a huge black CELLRAGER hoody that was hanging over a chair and fled to the lift.

 
I saw him wrestling with the restraints when the door hissed shut.

I fell to my knees on the short ride down and cried.

A flood of hot pathetic tears.
 

I didn’t want this.

I didn’t want to be responsible for killing a man like Thornton Darko.

How could I ever want him after all of this?

I sped out the doors into the English style garden that circled the hotel.

Into an intense seething sea of his freak army.

Thorn was at the window laughing at me. “How’s that running away thing coming along
witch
?”

“No,” I shook my head at them. “No. Please. I don’t want.”

They lifted me.

They tore the Cellrager hoodie off of me.

I was naked to the blast of sun and blue sky.

Fuck me, we had clearly overslept.

Brett!

Thorn didn’t know! He was going to be here any fucking minute now.

Shit! Shit! Shit!
 

His minions moved soundlessly and held me above a round concrete disc with a man, a dark, delicious Adonis carved into it.
 

I was forced face down on top of the cold, huge, unyielding thing.

My legs pried apart, my ass stuck up in the air.

I whipped my head back and forth. I saw a vine covered stone oven with a tall smoking chimney. Resting in the glowing jaw of it, a poker. The branding tool.
 

Humiliated, tears squeezed from my eyes. Smoke burned my throat. I hated Thornton Darko and his crazy as fuck minions.
I wanted to kill them
all
.

“You are going to die mother fucker,” I hissed, feeling his energy slam into my heart, before he was upon me.

His lips licked at my ear. “So cute when you’re angry Enchantress. I can’t wait to make you ‘finally mine.”
 

He leaned back from me.

“What are you doing?”

“I just took a photo of your unblemished ass. We ought to have a before and after shot, and we definitely should send it to Brett yes?”

“You fucking wouldn’t!” I screamed.
 

“All right every one, hold her down, I don’t want to fuck this up,” my terrified gaze followed Thorn to the little oven. He pulled out the branding tool, dark green eyes hissing with flame.
 

“Get ready to be become finally mine, Enchantress!
 

 
In 5,

4,

3,

2,

1,” he snarled.
 

I screamed and writhed in pain against the concrete disc as the brand hissed into the fat and skin of my ass.

Instantly ice was placed there.

“Be gone,”
 

I heard Thorn’s curt dismissal.

“She smells like bacon,” someone muttered. “So hungry now.”

Tears were rushing down my face.

He was so cruel.

He was so dirty.
 

So incredibly fucked up.

I hated this man. I wanted him fucking gone. He was a filthy
smear
on my reality.
 

“I am sorry,” he said finally on a resigned exhale of breath. He continued to press the ice pack against my ass. “This is a big deal in our world Elena. A sign. You are
mine.
You are protected. You will not have the threat of those fuck wits interfering with you again.”

“What?” I barely whispered.
 

He lifted me carefully, wrapped an arm around me.

I snapped my body backwards.
 

“Show me,” I insisted coldly.
 

Sweat was pouring down his chest as he stared at me, lips parted, chest rising and falling as his ugly heart pumped urgently.
 

“What you did to my ass.”

He winced and stood behind me.

“Look over your shoulder into my chest, you will find it highly reflective.”

I did.

He lifted the ice pack.

Spelled on my right ass cheek.

In angry red welts against my skin.
 

MINE.

THORNTON L. DARKO

I wailed in horror.
 

“Thorn.
Why
?” I was incoherent. I was clutching at scraps of sanity.
 

This man was winning.
He was breaking me.
 

“Because over and over I will fall for exactly
you
. Some idiot’s in our world Elena are threatening that love. Fuck them. I will do whatever is needed, to protect you woman. What I just did, has changed
everything
.”

“What does it mean?” I whispered.

“I will literally die for
you.
So you know those threats the snake Father and his idiot son made? If they try to kill you now. I would die. They seem very interested in keeping my ass alive, don’t you think? That might help keep yours alive, likewise.”
 

I stared at him in shock.
 

So now the idiot had
two
threats to his life.

One, I would kill him because some how I would not want him.

Second, some one else killing me would see him ended.

“Why?” I stared at him. “What the fucking hell, Thorn? You have people who need you here! You can’t
die.
”

“Hey Circus
freak
fuck up!”
 

A familiar voice laughed between the trees.

Thorn whirled around.

A sickening crack.

He had just been shot.

In the head.

Blood was trickling from his furrowed brow.

His dark green eyes bulged at me. His fingers flashed to the wound, and fell away slick with blood.

“Fuck,” he uttered on a strangled gasp.

He staggered unsteadily, his leg catching on a thick twisted root that crossed his path. He landed on his ass, toppled backwards, like a huge, proud tree felled.
 

‘Thorn!” I screamed helplessly, as huge arms encircled me, pulling me away from my fallen warlock lying in the rose garden with a bullet in his head.
 
I kicked, thrashed around, straining wildly forth. I stared aghast at him lying there smashed to ‘dead’ on the ground.
 
Fuck that, I
refused
to believe I had just witnessed the death of Thornton Darko.

A blistering outrage of screams ripped ceaselessly from my throat. His name was a question and there would be hell to pay if he didn’t answer.
 

“Thorn?”

Sixteen

“What has he done to you El?”
 

A stricken cry slammed into my tiny soul. It was teetering on the edge of collapse.

Brett.

Shit.

Oh no.

Brett!

The warm press of a black denim jacket he had obviously been wearing was wrapped around my shoulders and his arms tightened around me. Huge. Arms.

The hell?
 

It had been two nights.

“Brett?”

“Put these on?”

I whirled on him.

He and his huge muscular arms were holding out a pair of silver tights. To see him again! His short blonde hair, his face twisting with angst. Those beautiful brown eyes. His pecs were near bursting from the tight white t-shirt he wore. This t-shirt bore the name of one of Thorn’s haters in the death metal world, a band called
Nemesis Messiah
. They sang about robots overwhelming the flesh. Thorn, rightly in my opinion, thought they were a pile of cowardly shit, singing about that sci fi escapist nothing. Not having the bravery to comment and interact with the real world. Fuck them. I always hated them. But on Brett, they looked fucking fantastic.
 

I stared.

“They are experimental compression tights.
 
I wore a body suit of this material for a week after that fucker over there tried to kill me in the fire.”

“Thanks.” I grunted as I gratefully pulled them up my legs and over my throbbing rear. I sighed, head tilting back in bliss. Holy hell these felt amazing. Like a calming kiss to my stinging ass.

His mouth set in a grim line.
 

“Baby,” I whispered. I saw the gun shaking in his grip. His military buddies surged past us, weapons drawn, in a ripple of nervous energy. They swiftly surrounded Thorn, still lying there smashed on the ground.
 

“I know,” Brett’s brown eyes were wet with tears.
 

“It fucking kills me Elena but I
know
. I also know something else.” A vicious sneer cut up his beautiful face. “You should check this out. You will
love
this bitch. Me? Not so much.”

I screamed as Brett rushed toward Thorn.

He stood over him.

Aimed his gun.

Fired repeatedly into his head.

Thorn’s body was animated into a truly sickening twitch dance of death.
 

I was on my knees, wailing, tears burning
all
of me away.

“No!”
“Yes!” Brett whirled to face me. “Yes, Elena, I know. If you don’t want this piece of shit, he will die. I also know, while you do, he lives.”

But you couldn’t know that.

“Just Stop!”
 

A desperate voice croaked.

Brett placed his military boot over Thorn’s throat as he trained the gun on Bob. “The fuck?” he hissed, outraged at the interruption.
 

Bob, flanked by Thorn’s freak army of fans, stumbled toward us. He was covered in a black and grey flannel blanket, looking the worst I had ever seen him.
 

 
His watery blue eyes bloodshot, hooded, haunted.
 

 
“Brett, please …it’s Thorn’s dad.” I protested.
 

“I am about to fucking die,” Bob rasped angrily. “I want to spend my shit awful sliver of time left with the people I care about
most
and that so happens to be the man you are emptying your gun into.”
Brett at least had the decency to blush. He stepped back, the gun fell to his side, dangling from trembling fingertips.
 

“So unimaginative,” Bob bit at him angrily, blue eyes flashing. “I don’t expect you to understand little boy, the man lying on the ground before you. All he suffers and sacrifices just waking up as him every day. So,” he waved dismissively at the soldiers. “Take your GI Joe’s and go play somewhere else. Leave me alone with my son and,” his watery blue eyes flicked to me. “his wife.”

Brett gaped at me shaking his head in dismay. “It’s been two nights El!” Then he snapped his fingers, glaring at some military folk. “Take her.”

Before I could respond, I was being pushed into a military jeep.

An angry breath later, shaking, beating angrily upon the window, I watched the military folk and Brett retreat.

I could barely look at Brett when he tumbled into the jeep beside me.

I was a mess.

An angry, frightened mess.

“Sweet Jesus, El,” Brett tried to touch me.

I recoiled.

My Brett had turned into a bully of a man before my very eyes.

I didn’t know this person any more.

“El, before you get pissy with me woman, you should answer me this. Why in the fucking hell after all he has done to us.
Why
do you still
want
Thornton Darko?”

Seventeen

My mouth gawped, empty of words.
 

Brett’s mobile phone rang as the jeep hurtled at an insane speed onto the freeway.